SKETCH OF DAVID HOSACK. 839 



matter, " Dr. Hosack proceeds to point out what lie deems the 

 proper method of cultivating the science of medicine. He recom- 

 mends the inductive system of philosophizing as the only sure 

 means of acquiring correct methods in science, and enforces the 

 same by the celebrated examples of Bacon, Boyle, and Newton in 

 physics, of Reid, Bentley, and Stewart in metaphysics, and of 

 Hippocrates, Sydenham, and Boerhaave in medicine." 



Meanwhile Dr. Hosack had become prominently known for 

 his success in the treatment of yellow fever, which had visited 

 New York in four successive summers, beginning with 1795, and 

 afterward in 1803, 1805, 1819, and 1822. On many occasions, when 

 disease suspected to be yellow fever broke out, he was called upon 

 by the Board of Health of New York for a report as to its real 

 nature, for if the fears of his fellow-citizens were groundless his 

 statement would be sure to allay them. 



Of Dr. Hosack in the professorial chair, Dr. Minturn Post, one 

 of his pupils, has said : " In no respect was Dr. Hosack more re- 

 markable than as a lecturer ; gifted with a commanding person 

 and a piercing eye, of an ardent temperament and of strong con- 

 victions, his manner of treating the various subjects connected 

 with his professorship was at once bold, impressive, and eloquent. 

 . . . His great object was to direct the student to the importance 

 of the subject under examination, to lead him by his eloquence, 

 and to rivet his attention by his earnestness, and no man ever 

 succeeded better as a publio lecturer in attaining these results. 

 . . . Dr. Hosack was gifted with a fine, sonorous voice, great play 

 of expression, and a remarkable vivacity of manner qualities 

 which, being as it were contagious, begat in his youthful auditory 

 a kindred sympathy." In closing his account above quoted Dr. 

 Post remarks : " He lived in memorable times, before the great 

 men of the Revolution had passed away ; had seen and conversed 

 with the most eminent of the age ; had listened to the inspired 

 song of Burns, tuned to sweet cadence, from his own lips ; was 

 intimate with Rush, and Gregory, and Sir Joseph Banks, and was 

 the friend of Clinton and Hamilton." The friendship of Hamil- 

 ton was probably won for the most part by his success in saving 

 the life of a son of the general sick with scarlet fever, whose case 

 for a time was deemed hopeless. This friendship was conspicu- 

 ous on every occasion, and was terminated only on that day when 

 Dr. Hosack accompanied Hamilton across the Hudson River to 

 his fatal duel with Colonel Burr. 



Dr. Hosack is often mentioned as one of the leading promoters 

 of science of his time. " His love of botanical science," says his 

 son, " induced him to found the Elgin * Botanic Garden, which 



* So named after the village in Scotland where his father was born. 



